Taking a Break

For the last few days, I’ve been less drawn to writing on the blog than usual. It’s something I enjoy doing, and do quite regularly and yet, I’ve had to remind myself that I need to come here and post. And today, I figured out why.

I was driving to work, consumed with thoughts of the technical writing class I’ve just begun, my husband being away, our imminent move, and more. You see, today, Elie is on break for a period of two weeks. This week, his entire unit gets “regila” – vacation. Next week, he asked the army to give him a special break to help with our move. I can’t explain how human, never mind humane, the Israeli army is – it is something we all understand here and accept. The army of Israel, is Israel and they have families that need them, houses that need to be moved and happy (and sad) family events.

The army understands when a soldier needs to be home, and when home needs the soldier, so Elie has not only this week, but next week too. And so, Elie isn’t a soldier now. He’s a regular young man with a dirty room that has to be packed, a sister that MUST be teased, a younger brother that MUST be ordered around. Now he is Elie, who cooked dinner last night, insisting that I don’t add enough sauce to the spaghetti, and Elie who saw I was losing the computer game can grabbed the laptop to victory…and kept it for another game as well.

Now it is my Elie, always my Elie, and not my soldier. And, I realized this morning, if he isn’t a soldier, I’m not a soldier’s mother, am I?

That doesn’t mean I’ll stop writing, when do I ever? But, now it feels more like I’m writing about my kids and less about my soldier. But, of course, there is a difference that is never forgotten. News comes into our home – an arrest near Kalkilye – Elie’s friends. A firebomb attack on a bus; smuggling attempts and more. Elie keeps one ear on the news, which is not normal, at least not according to the standards of my youth and there is a gun in Elie’s room so the door is locked more often than not.

Elie is taking a break from the army and I can sleep and breathe more easily – in a strange way, I love being a soldier’s mother…because I love what the army has done for and to my son and what he has become as a result of his service. But, I also love taking a break and having him home!

My two aunts were officers in 1948 and wouldn’t tell my grandmother what they were doing. One time they didn’t come home for Shabbat and my grandmother showed up on Sunday and told the shin gimmel that she wasn’t going anywhere until she had seen her daughters.

We are a democratic country; so much so, we allow our enemies into our government and from the podium of our parliament, they have the freedom to call for policies that would destroy us.
Our current enemies, those who pose the most immediate threat lie to our north. This is Hizbollah land, where according to their leader Hassan Nasrallah, “We have discovered how to hit the Jews where they are the most vulnerable. The Jews love life, so that is what we shall take away from them. We are going to win, because they love life and we love death.”
Our enemies lie to the northeast. This is Syria. My sons have spent many months on the Golan Heights, including some tense days waiting to see how the Syrians would react after Israel sent planes to destroy a building widely believed to be the beginnings of a nuclear reactor. My oldest son fought near Gaza to help stop the rockets from being fired against Israel.
Our enemies lie further to the east. This is Iran, led by fanatics who promise that they will do all they can to accomplish in a few minutes more than what Adolf Hitler accomplished in six years of war. The Iranian leadership has made it clear in words and actions that they are after a nuclear bomb and that their goal is to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. Believe them.